Hillcrest, I love your drive for this game (:

That's awesome. Everyone here would be very happy to help you with any questions or thoughts, that's part of what we're here for ♡

It can all be a bit overwhelming at first, but I know you'll be a pro in no time (:

Did you have any specific questions about genetics?

Thanks to both of you - the genetics forum that was mentioned is detailed and helpful, and that's where I got the idea of creating a spreadsheet of my best guess on what the genes are for my mares (at least until I can afford to do some testing to be sure.) It will be fun to see if my guesses are correct. I'm a bit under the weather today, I took the day off so that is why I'm spamming the group. In the next day or so I'll post some matches and see what you all think might be best for the next round of breeding. PS. I am watching several of the colts I *almost* won in auction that ended up in your stables, and watching some of your beautiful studs, so I hope possibly once I'm looking more seriously at creating Shinies (yea, I play Pokemon Go), I could maybe see which of mine would be best matched to make that happen. Thank you all! I'm heading off line to rest up now and drink lots of water and chicken soup. Have a great day!

Feel better, Hillcrest! I'd love to teach you more about the genetics on HEE! It takes time, but eventually there's little to no guessing about genetics, thankfully. If you'd like to post any of your horses, we can give you a ballpark genetics summary! I love doing things like that :D

So I stayed up too late last night reading the genetic forum (lots of good information in there), doing comparisons by searching for horses of specific colors that were already genetic tested, and creating my spreadsheet for my horses with a best guess on their genetics. I understand more but I'm more confused! The pearl gene confused me because PrlPrl means the horse does NOT carry the gene, but in most cases, the capital letters are dominant. GAH! I know it works with the cream gene as well, and yes, it's confusing. So my first question is on Silver. ZZ or Zz will show silver? Is it a dominant or recessive gene? If I want to breed more silver, do I need to put two silvers together or is there another coat combination that might do it? Since my main goal is to consistently try to produce P+ combos first, color is secondary but it makes sense to invest wisely now and try to bring in the characteristics I want for the future. PS You all have some BEAUTIFUL horses.

So silver is dominant, but will not show up on chestnut based horses (ee). Both ZZ and Zz will show silver on all coats except chestnut. Does that help?

GAH! Yes, it helps, but I was hoping to be able to create shiny chestnuts! hahahahaha!

Another question, but a general one. The patterns - Sabino etc, also Roan - I don't necessarily want those down the road. How hard is it to breed out? For example, say the best match for one of my mares, with almost all the characteristics I want, but is patterned, should I breed to that one for now and will I be able to remove the pattern in future foals? Or is it always dominant? Or should I breed to a different stud that is not patterned but maybe is not as highly rated? What is harder to improve/remove? Color and patterns or ratings? Thanks!

You're going to have a hard time breeding out sabino lol. It's in almost all the top studs. But there are plenty of studs without patterns. Try searching for studs and just check the "no patterns" box. Pattern genes are always dominant, but as long as the parents aren't homozygous for that pattern, you have a chance at getting no pattern. Your best bet is going to be breeding a non-patterned stud to a single-copy pattern mare (which you may not be able to figure out unless you gene test. Some horses you will be able to see if they only have one copy of a pattern, because only one of its parents have it) Or breeding a single-copy stud to a patternless mare... That help? What else you got? :D

I can tell you that this lady only has one copy of Sb, so she'd be good for your program. https://horseeden.com/horse.php?id=21094985#pedhead

Yes, that helps a lot. I thought patterns were dominant because I see so many horses with it. It will take time and patience to work around it if my best options have patterns. Oh yea, and try to breed highly rated horses that are also Shiny. I'm not that ambitious... :-) Thank you.